Pages

Our Love Story

Michael and I met in July of 2008 through one of our friends. Michael always loves to joke on me for this time period. Our mutual friend was trying to set us up many times, but all I really didn't want to have to meet someone and then deal with everything if I didn't like them. Every time I asked my friend about Michael, he just said "Oh, he's really funny." I could only think bad things about this description. I ended up getting tricked into meeting him, which turned out to be a great thing. Our first date was at Starbucks, and Michael said it was meant to be when I said I hated France, and pulled my Ann Coulter book out of my purse.

A few months later, we got the opportunity to go and see Ann Coulter, along with a bunch of other great speakers! We went out to DC for a long weekend, got to see all the sites at DC, along with attend the conference!

We pretty much hung out together every day after that, we would go to class together, and go on adventures- it didn't really matter what we did, we just always had fun!

Before we knew it, our 1 year anniversary came up! We spent the morning seeing the sunset rise at one of the beaches in Virginia Beach, went to the Virginia Aquarium, visited with Mike's sister and her new twin boys, and then had a great dinner! Here's a picture of us at the Aquarium with our nick-names (Mike's Snuggle Bunny, and I am Afwee)

Next up: the big move to Lynchburg. We had decided that we were going to finish up school at Liberty University, I had friends here already, so I quickly had some roommates. Michael got his own apartment. Michael was lonely during this time, and ended up getting Linus. We thought Linus was a mix between a yellow lab and a beagle, making him a good size for apartments, and a good addition to our family. We had no idea he was going to grow into a giant!

Michael proposed in December. We were going to have a "Roommate Christmas Party," where we were going to exchange our gifts for each other, etc. Little did I know, Michael and Miranda had this huge thing already planned. I spent the afternoon shopping for last minute presents for our friends and family. Michael was supposed to meet me out when I got a call from him asking me to pick him up from his apartment. I was so frustrated- this was not part of our plans- I did not want to go all the way back to his apartment and get him. He was insistent on it, so out I went.

I showed up at his place and he was all dressed up. "Why the heck are you so dressed up" I asked him.

(Remember, I was already mad that he didn't listen to me and meet me when we were both already out. Poor guy!)

"I thought we would go out to dinner to celebrate Christmas together. Maybe form our own Christmas tradition?" he asked.

"Babe, I'm in jeans and a sweatshirt. If you would have told me about this I would have gone home and changed instead of sitting at Barnes and Noble for an hour."

"Go check in the bathroom- I picked out some stuff for you this morning."

Ahhhh... at this point I thought it- 'I'm going to get engaged!' So I quickly went into the bathroom and got dressed. Michael had picked out a dress out of my closet, shoes, a headband, he even went out and bought me hose! I'll pause so you can let out your girlie 'awwwww'. (It's okay, I did too!)

I get dressed and we are about to leave when Michael starts looking around saying, "I can't find my wallet." He walks into his bedroom and I'm looking around the kitchen and living room for it. He said, oh babe come here, I think it's in the spare room."

He opened the door, and there was an adorable Christmas tree set up with lights everywhere and roses in the tree, and the petals all over the ground. He told me to go look at the tree and hanging there was an ornament that was engraved with "Will you marry me" and the ring was hanging off of it. I turned around and Michael was down on one knee. I don't know what was said after that, just that I threw my arms around his neck and said yes!

We went to a great dinner at a Steak House in town, and then spent the night with my roommates and our Christmas celebration.

Here's a picture of us in my apartment, newly engaged, with our 2 puppies:

The next few months flew by, as we prepared for our wedding in July! There was so much to do and to pick out- I had no idea! Here are a few of my favorite engagement pictures done by Scott Hayne Photography:

The rehearsal dinner was a great time to catch up with family and friends that were in town for the wedding.

The wedding day! It was such a perfect day- we got married at Regent University on July 12, 2008.

After the wedding, we went on our Honeymoon to Amelia Island, in Flordia. We stayed for a week, and were able to relax and de-stress from all the wedding planning.

Moving back to Lynchburg, we rented a little tiny old house. It was great for our first house, and it has made us extremely grateful for our home now.

While living in this little house, Michael finished up his degree at Liberty University (so proud of you babe!) He's going to hate me for putting this picture up, but here he is early early morning before graduation!

Okay, this picture may be a better representation of the day:

After graduation, Michael's parents took us to Mexico to celebrate Michael's accomplishment! We got to celebrate our 1 year anniversry there as well!

Around August we started looking around to purchase a house. We looked in some other areas and states, but no jobs panned out for us. We decided to buy in Lynchburg, where we both had jobs. We closed on our house in November, and moved in in December! Here's when we first moved in:

After a little pit of painting and cleaning it up, here's what it looks like so far today: